The effect of foreign buyers is a highly localised one. Much of the country has low rates of non NZ buyers, but some areas of Auckland as well as Queenstown have much higher rates than the rest of the country.

These results exclude sales to corporate entities (10% in March 2018).

Auckland foreign buyers

March 2018 percentage of residential property sales from those that don’t have NZ citizenship or a residents visa (where the affiliation is known). Those areas which are labelled NA have been supressed due to a low sample size.

Council area tables for foreign buyers and sellers (March 2018)

Percent

Area Buyers Sellers
Queenstown-Lakes District 9.7 6.9
Auckland 7.3 3.3
Hamilton City 5.2 0.5
Invercargill City 3.8 1.3
New Zealand 3.3 1.5
Rotorua District 2.7 NA
Christchurch City 2.6 0.8
Dunedin City 2.2 1.6
Thames-Coromandel District 2.1 NA
Wellington City 2.1 1.4
Lower Hutt City 1.8 NA
Palmerston North City 1.4 NA
Waikato District 1.4 NA
Far North District 1.3 2.0
Selwyn District 1.3 NA
Taupo District 1.3 NA
Tauranga City 1.2 0.5

Numbers

Area Buyers Sellers
New Zealand 1083 501
Auckland 678 306
Christchurch City 72 21
Hamilton City 60 6
Queenstown-Lakes District 42 30
Wellington City 27 18
Dunedin City 21 15
Invercargill City 18 6
Tauranga City 15 6
Lower Hutt City 12 NA
Rotorua District 12 NA
Palmerston North City 9 NA
Thames-Coromandel District 9 NA
Far North District 6 9
Selwyn District 6 NA
Taupo District 6 NA
Waikato District 6 NA


Source

Stats NZ - https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/property-transfer-statistics-march-2018-quarter